Protesters To Pay Legal Costs To Imperial Metals

The First Nations group that blockaded Imperial Metal’s Red Chris Mine after the company’s Mount Polley’s tailings dam breached last year has been ordered to pay the company’s legal costs.

Red Chris Development Company, a subsidiary of Imperial, successfully asked the B.C. Supreme Court for an injunction and enforcement order to remove the Klabona Keepers’ blockade in November last year.

The company is operating a copper and gold mine in northwest B.C.

Red Chris argued Klabona, specifically group spokeswoman Rhoda Quock, has “a history of disobeying court orders” — the judge agreed and said Klabona protesters “knew that their actions were illegal given their past experience with blockades and the resulting court orders.”

“It is also of note that in this proceeding the blockaders refused to obey the interim injunction order prior to the enforcement order coming into effect,” said Justice…